A couple of times talks about AWU SING SONG has popped up as concerns labeling his music journey so far and his stance in the Cameroon urban music scene. Some school of thoughts think he’s underrated why another think he’s simply inconsistent , he could be consistently underrated aswell as his inconsistency is underrated depending on what perspective you chose to analyze it from anyways the focus of the writeup is as to what the future has for him.
Awunganyl Etiendem Nkemasong popularly known by the pseudonym Awu has made more than a decade in the music scene undeniably amongst the earliest new school music artists the industry saw around 2012 then gaining the spotlight in 2014 with the song “If a can, Can” FIFA WORLD CUP song 2014- Brazil. With little or no marketing and promo this piece fetched him some degree of fame nationwide and internationally as his arts and name became a household name.
We see a progressive artist who has evolved with his music cutting across Football inclined chants, a touch of the new school afrobeat and then the makossa vibe evidently projected through his music pieces over the years – Sidonima is one of those creations that sparked a new flair of the artist’s creativity placing an asterisk on his versatility, one of those artist safe to say he was born to make music, music being part of his trajectory of life.
There’s this nostalgic feeling everytime there’s a musical interlude in a gathering and a makossa song pops up, the feeling of wanting to identify in that golden music era makes the atmosphere lively. For a fact many of the music artists in recent time are shying away from basking in the glories of Mokossa by holding firm to it as rod to create music and recycle the one sound which represents a Cameroon sound.
The Makossa vibe is eventually fading away and getting extinct and we can only tend to attach to it’s past glories and the nostalgic feeling it brings. How do we explain the fact this generation still dances to the tunes of Makossa but few of it’s artists capitalize their music creation on it or simply continuing the genre, making a legacy out of it.
For an artist like Awu who is a gem of writer has understood the need to hold firm to the vibe that makes Cameroon known musically in the urban scene, it’s easier once it integrates two music eras – the young and the old simultaneously. For tracks like YAYATO and ZEGE ZEGE serve as a foresight of what Awu is truely made of and what he’s capable of doing in years to come. You can’t snub the groovy and wavy vibe these masterpieces bring about when you are opportuned to fully give a listening ear.
The fact Makossa is still widely accepted by today’s generation should serve as a boost to every artist who’s probably thinking of going down that lane of making music but is held aback by the fear of it not welcomed and consumed. There’s prove through Awu and a few others that Makossa is still very much alive as he successfully defines his style and sound as “Makossa-Fusion” – Mokossa lying central to his arts but opening its doors to other genres to blend in for sure.
Awu is one of those entertainers who has nothing more to prove as far as arts and creativity is concerned ,so how does he make the “Makossa-Fussion” a reality?
β’Consistent about the genre and giving people reasons to see he has a mastery of his sound.
β’ Dishing out a body of work [Albums and EPs] which is principally Afrocentric while introducing the Makossa-Fusion genre.
β’ Marketing, promoting and interconnecting with other musical stakeholders and enthusiasts.
As he holds firm to Makossa there’s obviously an ever ready population to consume by dancing to it’s melodies and rhythms regardless of the music eras. The future is, safe when all other things fall in place the PRODUCT is obviously ready, now the marketing and exporting is what a greater part of his career plan afterwards should be the focal point. As we are looking forward to a music album we are hoping for an upgrade from local market to mainstream.
